Now it was Hadjar’s turn to express his shock:
“A Primeval Giant?”
Chapter 456
A few hours later, the three disciples were sitting by a fire. Fortunately, the swamp had patches of land large enough to accommodate three Frogohorses along with their riders. The animals were grazing peacefully, and the friends and Dora were discussing the events of the past few days.
“It’s clear that you’ve become much stronger,” the elf girl took a sip of the broth she’d cooked from a wooden cup. She’d thrown some powders, roots, and leaves into the boiled water. The broth wasn’t very tasty, but their fatigue from collecting the Yellow Grass of Pagani disappeared. The marks on their bodies left behind by the leeches also disappeared. “You might even be at the level of the top one thousand strongest inner circle disciples now.”
“Thank you for your kind words, eldest heiress of House Marnil,” Einen nodded.
Hadjar looked eastward. Somewhere out there, among the trees, ravines, and valleys of the Forest of Shadows, a small, white kitten wandered. As soon as the friends had entered the ancient forest, Azrea had jumped out of his inner pocket and run away. Hadjar wasn’t angry with her. She’d grown up strong and independent, and didn’t need Hadjar’s constant care. However, he’d felt a pang of sadness and longing when he’d seen her run off.
“Can you tell us more about this Primeval Giant?” The islander asked.
Einen never showed his feelings and emotions. It was sometimes hard to guess whom he liked and hated. However, after surviving so many battles alongside his friend, Hadjar had learned to understand him. The friends had a bond. And Hadjar was pretty sure the islander might’ve felt something more than just respect for the elf girl.
Hadjar choked on his broth. The Primeval beasts at the initial Stage were equal in power to human Lords at the middle and peak stages of their level. At the same time, Primeval monsters at the middle and peak of the Stage were equal to human cultivators at the Nameless level.
“It’s at the initial, first Stage,” Dora said quickly. “Otherwise, even one thousand and five hundred cultivators wouldn’t be able to deal with it.”
“One thousand and five hundred cultivators!” Einen exclaimed.
“That’s right,” the girl nodded. “As far as I know, ninety percent of them are ordinary disciples. However, there are also fully-fledged and even a few inner circle disciples among them, including two Spirit Knights.”
What was a Spirit Knight and inner circle disciple of ‘The Holy Sky’ School like? They were a monster that could kill warriors like Sankesh with ease. They had the best Masters, resources, and Techniques from all over Darnassus at their disposal, which made them true forces of nature. After all, the battle between cultivators wasn’t just decided by the amount of energy they’d absorbed and their raw power.
“I don’t see any reason to take part in a campaign where there are already fifteen hundred disciples involved,” Hadjar shrugged.
Despite the fact that Dora had sworn she’d been travelling to the Mountain of the Poor (no one knew why the mountain range in the middle of the swamp was called that) and had come across the two friends by accident, they still didn’t trust her. Maybe it was paranoia or stupidity, but Hadjar had suffered duplicity and betrayal too often to blindly put his faith in people he knew little about. Especially if they weren’t just anyone, but the heir of one of the seven largest clans of the Empire.
“There are enough Glory points for everyone,” Dora said. “The ordinary disciples will get a hundred Glory points for participating. The fully-fledged disciples will get twice as much, and the inner circle disciples will be awarded a full four hundred points. A quarter of the reward will be taken by Dinos himself.”
Einen and Hadjar quickly calculated how much one lunatic would get if they could bring down such a monster on their own. It would net them about two hundred thousand Glory points! A truly insane amount!
“There is no doubt about the reliability of the source,” the elf continued. “Despite my low opinion of Tom Dinos, he always keeps his word and is a man of honor. As much as a Dinos can be, at any rate…”
Apparently, the paths of House Marnil and the Predatory Blades clan had crossed before. Judging by Dora’s tone, their relationship was a difficult one.
Einen immediately looked at Hadjar, but he managed to pull himself together. The fact that the image of Anise loomed on the horizon didn’t change anything. If he couldn’t survive in the upcoming adventure, it would be impossible of rushing for the opportunity to meet the young girl.
“How long has Dinos been getting a squad?” Einen asked.
Dora sighed a little wearily and lowered her cup. There was little broth in it. The girl drew her woolen shawl closer around her. The winds in the Valley of Swamps were so chilly that even Heaven Soldiers felt the cold. No wonder mortals and practitioners rarely traveled the world. There were too many places in the world that even cultivators couldn’t deal with.
“I understand your caution, but I have already taken all the oaths, and if you don’t wish to come with me, then you can stay and gather your Grass.”
Dora, brushing aside her shawl, rose to her feet and walked over to her Frogohorse. Hadjar and Einen looked at each other and nodded.
“Forgive our hesitation,” Einen said, bowing slightly. “We will be happy to accompany you on this adventure.”
“Besides, you brought us luck last time,” Hadjar smiled.
It was thanks to Dora that he’d been able to expand his energy channels. It might not have given him a noticeable boost in power, but not everything was measured in simple levels and stages. Quality was sometimes far more important. This was one of those times. Hadjar, thanks to the Primordial Water, had become stronger in a ‘qualitative’ way.
The memories of the past few days stung his heart a little, but they couldn’t pierce the spiritual armor that had been molded around Hadjar’s newly hardened soul.
“Let’s get a move on, then.” Dora couldn’t hide her joy at their agreement.
As she climbed into her saddle, she realized that she wasn’t treating Einen and Hadjar like the ordinary disciples they were. She wasn’t arrogant and never looked down on other cultivators, but she usually treated the ordinary disciples of ‘The Holy Sky’ School rather condescendingly and patronizingly, not like equals.
Nevertheless, looking at the two warriors, she couldn’t ignore a strange feeling she had. It was exactly the same feeling she’d had when she’d visited the military councils of her clan. The top officers and generals of House Marnil had been there, cultivators who’d dedicated themselves to endless battles. However, battles had been rare — few enemies were daring enough to openly confront one of the seven great clans. More often than not, ‘battles’ had been fought in secret, in the many banks of the Empire, and the stroke of a pen had done far more than the swing of a sword.
How can my peers possess the aura of warriors who’ve fought thousands of battles? Dora had Techniques that allowed her to learn a lot about other cultivators. She used all of them. Not only did the two friends distrust the elf girl, but she was wary of them as well. All she saw were two Heaven Soldiers, aged fifteen and fourteen. She was now desperately interested to learn just what kind of life full of deprivation and constant struggle they’d lived to attain such auras.
Chapter 457
Over the next two days, Hadjar and Einen experienced all the delights that came with being in a squad with a cultivator like Dora Marnil. Or rather, the delights of her artifacts and talismans. For example, the elf girl had brought several sets of shawls with her. The friends didn’t care that they were girly because they protected them from the cold quite well. The friends had had to wear far worse ‘clothes’ once.
In addition, she ignored their objections and used her spatial artifact to collect the Yellow Grass of Pagani. The reach of her expensive artifact was many times greater than Hadjar could’ve hoped for. She easily ‘dug up�
�� even those tufts of the Grass that grew twenty-two yards away from their position. At the same time, the girl managed to share a lot of wisdom with them as well. She told them the kind of information that would’ve cost them a considerable amount of Glory points to learn normally. For example, she instructed Hadjar on where he could find flying monsters at the King Stage or higher. Unfortunately, in order to hunt them, Hadjar would need to become a fully-fledged disciple, since these beasts could only be found in the Wastelands.
He needed to prepare a special Essence, which was comprised of the cores of twenty-seven flying monsters, all of them no lower than the King Stage, Dream Grass, the root of a thousand-year-old fern, pollen collected from a three-hundred-year-old four-leaf clover, and an ounce of molten Celestial Metal. In total, such a potion would cost him (if he were to buy the ingredients from the market) no less than seventy-five thousand Imperial coins! Such a steep price would bankrupt some nobles, let alone an ordinary disciple.
Unfortunately, Hadjar had no other choice. Without this Essence, he couldn’t complete the second stage of the ‘Path through the Clouds’ meditation Technique, and if he failed, the middle stage of the Heaven Soldier level would forever be out of reach.
Einen was still mainly interested in creatures that didn’t fly, but crawled along the ground. Apparently, his Technique was tied to snakes and all sorts of other reptiles that caused Hadjar to flinch despite his relationship with dragons, which, in principle, were also reptiles. However, it was better not to remind them of that fact…
“We’re almost there!” Dora exclaimed in delight.
After riding their Frogohorses for two days straight, they’d crossed a truly shocking distance of ten thousand miles. Neither the riders nor the Frogohorses were tired and could easily continue their journey.
“May I ask a question, Dora?” Hadjar spoke for the first time in the past several hours.
The elf looked at the barbarian riding next to her. Einen made her feel calm and even majestic. He was almost like a beautiful rock jutting out of the sea, but this black-haired man… He was like the wind... Not a pleasant sea breeze either, but one that blew over battlefields — a dry, northern wind that smelled of smoke and fire. She didn’t particularly like this barbarian whose hair was adorned with Bedouin ornaments and whose Name was tattooed on his arm. There was something... wrong with him. Something alien to her. She could feel it in her gut. She sensed the presence of an alien, even eerie, entity in Hadjar, but she couldn’t find the right words to describe it. She preferred to avoid him.
Dora slapped herself mentally. Neither of her new friends had ever shown the slightest bit of hostility toward her. She had no reason to suspect them of anything, or to hold a grudge. Moreover, it would be dishonorable to do so.
“Of course you may, Hadjar.” Dora said, trying to smile.
“Why do all the other inner circle disciples travel through the sky on flying boats and rafts, and only you use land transport?” Hadjar saw the girl’s blue eyes flash with displeasure, and quickly added, “I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m just a little curious.”
Dora paused for a moment, and then, with a sigh, answered.
“As I’ve told you before, my father is very strict about my allowance. In addition, he believes that the best blades are only forged in battle, and the best bows are made from the trunks of wild trees. You can’t raise a great cultivator by simply keeping them indoors and feeding them precious potions and pills.
“I agree with him,” Hadjar answered.
He liked the head of House Marnil more and more with each passing day. Dora had equipment and artifacts that cost more than the Essence required for the ‘Path through the Clouds’, but everything was within reason.
For the next hour, the trio rode in silence. They didn’t encounter any of the local fauna. They only saw a gigantic shadow among the dark clouds once. But the unknown monster was apparently on its way to the Storm Mountain.
“Something is going on in that region,” Einen said thoughtfully.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t concern us,” Hadjar said, shaking his head. “Dora, how long until we get there?”
“We’ve already arrived.”
A moment later, Hadjar had to close his eyes. He was briefly blinded by a ray of the bright, morning sun. After two weeks of semi-darkness, it felt like a torch had been thrust in his face. They came out of the swamp at the edge of a marsh, which consisted of lakes mixed with densely clustered, deciduous trees growing on rocks. They rose up like mountain peaks out of the water that nourished them.
“I didn’t think I’d ever say this about the Valley of Swamps,” Hadjar watched, fascinated, as white storks rose from the water’s surface and soared through the sky. They flew toward a green-covered mountain that looked like the face of a sleeping man. “But, by the High Heavens, it is beautiful here.”
After admiring the view of the marshes for a couple of minutes, the trio rode eastward. They moved according to the map they’d received in the Hall of Fame. Tom Dinos had left a map with the designated area marked on it before he’d left to search for the giant. This was the place where everyone could gather together to join the campaign. It was a reasonable, but at the same time, bold decision. Nobody knew who else might decide to come here.
Two hours later, the trio entered the territory of a large camp. The fully-fledged disciples, as well as the inner circle ones, didn’t much care for comfort. They only needed their weapons and access to the World Rivers.
There were only eleven small tents set up for more than one hundred and fifty people.
The others were either sitting around the fires or sleeping on the bare ground. Some were meditating, others were training with their weapons, and there were a few that were sparring, causing spectators to gather around them.
“Let’s sign up for the quest first, and then find a place to rest. The hunt will begin in three days.”
Einen and Hadjar nodded in agreement. They rode through the camp with Dora, attracting hundreds of curious glances as they did so. The friends didn’t arouse any interest, of course. They were ordinary, grimy disciples, like tens of thousands of others. But there was a lovely girl with long ears riding between them.
Some simply admired her, and others, like Hadjar, were seeing an elf for the first time in their lives. There were those who began to wonder what the eldest heiress of House Marnil was doing in such a place.
Dismounting near the largest tent, the trio pulled back the flap and entered. Tom Dinos sat at a small table inside. Anise was leaning over him, pouring tea into his bowl.
Hadjar swallowed.
She looked exactly the same as when they’d first met: the black skirt, the black blouse, and the iron plates of her artifact armor on her left shoulder. Apparently, they unfolded in exactly the same way Dora’s armor did.
“Good morning, Tom,” the elf saluted and sat down opposite the young man.
“Nice to see you, Dora,” Dinos said, but his tone conveyed the opposite. “Are those two with you?”
Dora nodded.
“Servants?”
“Just good friends.”
Anise put the kettle down and walked around her brother. She casually put her hand on the hilt of her sword. Hadjar tried to catch her eye for a moment, but she was feeling too introspective to notice.
“That’s your business.” Dinos shrugged. He couldn’t remember why these two bastards were vaguely familiar to him. “Sign for yourself and them, and wait for my command. Do you know the terms?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t talk to Hadjar or Einen. He didn’t care about mere servants. Any ordinary disciple was ready to do anything for a hundred Glory points.
Dora signed the scroll quickly. As she did so, Hadjar felt an alien energy touch his soul. It was as if somebody had asked him if he would take certain oaths which were standard when hunting. He mentally agreed. A heartbeat later, their names on the scroll flashed red and began to glow steadily, and
familiar scars appeared on their palms.
“That’s amazing,” the friends said in unison.
Their surprise only made Tom smile wryly. Servants!
“I’d like to discuss something with you, Dora. It’s an issue that concerns both of us.”
The elf looked at her companions apologetically. They nodded and left the tent. While leaving, Hadjar threw a quick glance at Anise, but she turned away.
Well, he hoped this wasn’t their last meeting.
“Well, look who’s here!” Someone said when they exited the tent.
Hadjar wasn’t surprised to see Ian Gorr and his people standing in front of them.
“I figured we would have to search for you all over the Forest of Shadows,” the servant of House Tarez who’d promised to avenge Araz’s death laughed. “Well, you’re-”
Hadjar unsheathed his blade and pointed it directly at the cultivators.
“Are we going to talk, or fight?”
Chapter 458
Dressed in simple, clean blue robes, Ian made a better first impression than Hadjar. Even among fully-fledged disciples, Gorr had a certain popularity. This was due to the fact that he was in last place on the Solid Earth list (despite their low status, there were about forty ordinary disciples on that list). They hadn’t earned enough Glory points to take the second exam yet, but everyone was certain that their power was equal to that of the disciples with the gold tokens. Ian was also impressive because there were two scabbards hanging from his belt. The twisted hilt of a long, broad sabre protruded from each of them.
Ian Gorr was one of those rare monsters who could fight equally well with both hands. To put it plainly, he was an ambidextrous cultivator. They couldn’t be made. No one had ever heard of a training method that could allow someone to become an ambidextrous cultivator, at any rate. They were born with this gift and always stood a step above their peers. If Ian had been born in the Predatory Blades clan instead of in a backwoods village, he might’ve been wearing a wooden token by now. It was probably because of his gift that House Tarez had awarded him a senior servant’s token. Out of all the ordinary disciples who served the Tarez, Gorr was the highest ranked. He was ambitious, skilled, and strong.
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